Many people enjoy the entertainment provided by various types of gaming systems. For example, many people enjoy playing “scratch-off” style instant lottery games. In this type of game, a player purchases a paper game ticket for a fixed price (e.g., each game ticket may represent a one dollar wager). The player uncovers a portion of the game ticket, such as by scratching off a coating of latex, to reveal one or more symbols (e.g., revealing three symbols each representing a potential payout amount). Based on the revealed symbols, the player is able to determine a payout amount, if any, associated with the game ticket. One reason players enjoy this type of game is the participation the game provides, such as the participation provided by uncovering portions of the game ticket. Players also enjoy the instant gratification provided by such games. That is, players do not need to wait for a periodic lottery drawing, such as a selection of winning lottery numbers, to determine if they have won. Another reason players enjoy these types of games is that players can purchase a number of game tickets and play the game at their convenience.
Conventional instant lottery games, however, have a number of disadvantages. For example, it is expensive to produce and distribute the paper game tickets with appropriate symbols and latex coatings. Although different game formats may be made available to players (e.g., “win ten thousand dollars if a ‘yes’ is revealed when you scratch off this area” or “match three numbers on this game ticket to win that dollar amount”), only a limited number of game formats can be printed and distributed to merchants because of the cost and physical limitations associated with producing and distributing game tickets.
Another disadvantage associated with conventional instant lottery systems is that the level of participation provided to a player is limited. For example, a player's participation may be limited to scratching off certain areas on a game ticket. In addition, the gratification that can be provided to a player is limited. For example, a player with five dollars may only be able to purchase and play five game tickets.
These disadvantages may reduce a potential player's interest in the game, resulting in fewer game tickets being sold.
To overcome some of these disadvantages, U.S. Pat. No. 5,871,398 discloses an off-line remote transaction system which enables a player to purchase instant-type lottery game outcomes from a central computer. The player views the outcomes on a remotely located gaming computer, such as a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA). The outcomes may represent, for example, monetary amounts that have been won by the player.
Some players, however, may be not find it interesting to simply play for a single type of outcome. For example, a player may grow bored if his or her outcomes merely represent various dollar amounts.
Moreover, a merchant may be interested in selling an item at a reduced price without revealing the reduced price to a player. For example, a merchant may have a large inventory of a particular product, and that product may not be selling at a satisfactory rate. The merchant, however, may be reluctant to reduce the price of the product (and therefore the merchant's profit) with respect to all customers and all instances of inventory of that product. In this case, the merchant may want to offer the product to some customers at a reduced price without revealing the reduced price to customers.